{"id":4935,"date":"2016-08-18T04:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T09:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twolisteners.org\/?p=4935"},"modified":"2016-08-18T04:00:31","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T09:00:31","slug":"thursday-treasures-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/?p=4935","title":{"rendered":"Thursday Treasures – Watchman Nee"},"content":{"rendered":"

Expecting The Lord’s Blessing<\/span><\/h2>\n

by Watchman Nee<\/span><\/h4>\n

Part 1 of 2<\/span><\/h4>\n

Of late a thought has been constantly with me that all the work is dependent on God’s blessing.\u00a0 Often we are faithful, but despite our faithfulness there is no blessing and no fruit.\u00a0 Often we are diligent, but despite our diligence there is no blessing and no fruit.\u00a0 Often we exercise our faith; we truly believe God can do something.\u00a0 We also pray that He would work, but everything is in vain when God does not bless us.\u00a0 Sooner or later, we who serve God must be brought to the point of expecting God’s blessing.\u00a0 Without God’s blessing, our faithfulness, diligence, faith, and prayers will be to no avail.\u00a0 However, if we have God’s blessing, there will be fruit even if we seem to be wrong or hopeless.\u00a0 Therefore, all problems are a matter of God’s blessing.<\/p>\n

One<\/span><\/h3>\n

I would like to bring out the matter of multiplying the five loaves (Mark 6:35-44; 8:1-9) with respect to God’s blessing.\u00a0 It is not a matter of how many loaves we have in our hands, but whether or not God has blessed them.\u00a0 Even if we had more than five loaves, this would not be enough to feed four or five thousand people.\u00a0 Even if we had ten times or even one hundred times more, we still would not have enough to feed four or five thousand people.\u00a0 It is not a matter of how much we have.\u00a0 Sooner or later, we must be brought to the point of seeing that it is not a matter of what we can pull out of our storage shed, nor is it a matter of how great our gift is or how much power we have.\u00a0 The day must come in which we say to the Lord, “Everything depends on Your blessing.”\u00a0 This is a basic matter.\u00a0 How much blessing has the Lord really given us?\u00a0 It does not really matter how many loaves there are.\u00a0 The Lord’s blessings nourishes people and gives them life.<\/p>\n

One matter is troubling my heart:\u00a0 Do we truly treasure God’s blessing?\u00a0 This is a basic question concerning the work.\u00a0 Perhaps we do not even have five loaves today, but our need is greater than four thousand or five thousand people.\u00a0 I am afraid that we have less in our storehouse than the apostles, while our need is greater than the need at the time of the apostles.\u00a0 Our own store, source, power, labor, and faithfulness will be manifest that they are useless to us one day.\u00a0 Brothers, our future holds great disappointment for us because we will see that we can do nothing.<\/p>\n

We must notice something in the Gospels.\u00a0 Why does the Lord do two miracles that are almost the same in nature and in action? I am afraid it is because this lesson is not easy to learn.\u00a0 Why does He feed the five thousand and then feed the four thousand?\u00a0 Two miracles of almost identical nature are repeated twice in the Gospels.\u00a0 We must learn this lesson, but it is not easy.\u00a0 Many people still do not look to God’s blessing, but instead look at the few loaves in their own hands!\u00a0 The Loves in our hands are so pitifully few, but we still base our plans on them.\u00a0 The more we plan in this way, however, the harder the work becomes.\u00a0 Sometimes it becomes impossible.\u00a0 I am somewhat comforted by the words spoken by a brother one hundred years ago.\u00a0 He said, “When the Lord wants to work a small miracle, He puts me in a difficult situation.\u00a0 When He wants to work a great miracle, He puts me in an impossible situation.”\u00a0 Our situation is difficult, and it even seems impossible.\u00a0 Many times it is really hard, and we are like the little boy with just a few loaves.\u00a0 We can only hope for a miracle, and this miracle is the Lord Himself taking them up and blessing them.<\/p>\n

Brothers and sisters, the miracles are produced by the Lord’s blessing.\u00a0 His blessing changes and multiplies the loaves.\u00a0 The miracles are based on the Lord’s blessing.\u00a0 When there is a miracle, five thousand or four thousand people are fed.\u00a0 Without a miracle, even two hundred or five hundred denarii’s worth of bread are not enough to satisfy that many people.\u00a0 The Lord was training the disciples, bringing them to the point of looking to Him for His blessing.<\/p>\n

Many times we do not have the capacity to do something.\u00a0 The outward environment is difficult, even impossible.\u00a0 If our eyes are fixed on the circumstances, we will not have any way to deal with them.\u00a0 However, the Lord repeatedly brings us through.\u00a0 These times are the Lord’s blessing.\u00a0 When we have blessing, everything goes well and nothing is difficult.\u00a0 Without the Lord’s blessing, everything goes wrong and nothing is easy.\u00a0 The Lord wants to bring us to a point where His blessing takes the first place, a point where we have never been.\u00a0 When the Lord brings us to such a point, He will have a way to go on.\u00a0 If the Lord does not bring us to this point, we will have to say that even two hundred denarii’s worth of bread is not enough.\u00a0 Today the problem is that we cannot meet the need in ourselves.\u00a0 All of our money combined is not enough.\u00a0 All of us combined is insufficient, but the Lord has a way.\u00a0 In the Lord’s work, the basic problem is the Lord’s blessing; nothing else matters.<\/p>\n

Two<\/span><\/h3>\n

Brothers, if God brings us to the point of seeing that everything in God’s work depends upon His blessing, it will bring about a basic change in our labor for God.\u00a0 We would not consider how many people, how much money, or how much bread we have.\u00a0 We would say we do not have enough, but the blessing is sufficient.\u00a0 The blessing meets the need that we cannot meet.\u00a0 Although we cannot measure up to the size of the need, the blessing is greater than our lack.\u00a0 When we see this, the work will have a basic change.\u00a0 In every other matter we must look at the blessing more than we consider the situation.\u00a0 Methods, considerations, human wisdom, and clever words are all useless.\u00a0 In God’s work we should believe in and expect His blessing.\u00a0 Many times we are careless and damage the work, but this is not a problem.\u00a0 If the Lord gives us a small blessing, we can get through any problem.<\/p>\n

We truly hope that we would not make mistakes or speak and act loosely in the work.\u00a0 When we have the Lord’s blessing, however, it seems that we cannot err even when we are wrong.\u00a0 Sometimes it seems that we have made a serious mistake, but with God’s blessing the result is not really an error.\u00a0 I once said to Brother Witness that if we had the Lord’s blessing, the things we did right would be right and the things we did wrong would be right as well.\u00a0 Nothing could damage the blessing.<\/p>\n

Three<\/span><\/h3>\n

The basic concern today is that we must learn to live in a way that does not hinder God’s blessing.\u00a0 Some habits force god to withhold His blessing, and these must be eliminated.\u00a0 Some temperaments keep God from blessing, and these must be done away with.\u00a0 We must learn to believe in God’s blessing, rely on it, and eliminate the barriers which prevent us from receiving it.<\/p>\n

Let us take Sian as an example.\u00a0 When the brothers were divided into two parties, this definitely hindered God from blessing.\u00a0 If their problem had continued to exist, God’s blessing would have come in.\u00a0 In another example, there have been some difficulties in Szechuan recently.\u00a0 Therefore, we cannot expect Szechuan to have any special blessing.\u00a0 I merely mention these matters as examples.<\/p>\n

We must see that the Lord withholds no good thing from us.\u00a0 If the work is not going well, if the brothers and sisters are in a poor condition, or if the number of saved ones is not increasing, we should not use the environment or certain people as an excuse.\u00a0 We cannot blame the brothers.\u00a0 I am afraid that the real reason lies with our harboring of some frustrations to the blessing.\u00a0 If the Lord can get through in us, the Lord’s blessing will be greater than our capacity.\u00a0 Once God said to the Israelites, “Prove Me, if you will, by this, … whether I will open to you the windows of heaven and pour out blessing for you until there is no room for it.” (Mal 3:10).\u00a0 God is still saying this today.\u00a0 The normal life of a Christian is a life of blessing, and the normal work of a Christian is a work of blessing.\u00a0 If we do not receive blessing, we should say, “Lord, perhaps I am the problem.”<\/p>\n

With the passing years it becomes more and more evident that some brothers receive God’s blessing while others do not.\u00a0 Of ourselves, we are not able to form any judgment about this matter, but over the years this fact has become so evident that we know beforehand that there will be fruit if one brother goes out but none if another brother goes out.\u00a0 We seemingly can forecast the result.<\/p>\n

Four<\/span><\/h3>\n

There are definite requirements for receiving the Lord’s blessing.\u00a0 It does not come by accident or luck.\u00a0 God has His ways and works according to His principles.\u00a0 God likes certain conditions and does not like others.\u00a0 Esau was very good, but God did not like him.\u00a0 Jacob was not good, but God liked him. God has His own reasons.\u00a0 If a person does not receive God’s blessing, there is a reason for it.\u00a0 If we do not receive God’s blessing, we should not push the responsibility for it onto the situation or environment.\u00a0 There is always a reason for not being blessed.\u00a0 If we could be brought to the point in which we wholeheartedly hope for His blessing and wholeheartedly ask Him to show us the reason for not being blessed, God’s work would have a great future.\u00a0 I really hope that we could live on the earth by expecting the Lord’s blessing.\u00a0 Nothing is as important as God’s blessing.\u00a0 The results of the work are in the blessing.<\/p>\n

I am well aware that we all have our own particular weaknesses.\u00a0 God seems to overlook some of these, but He will not tolerate other ones.\u00a0 Where these exist His blessing cannot rest.\u00a0 It seems that God does not care about some weaknesses.\u00a0 It does not bother Him if you make these mistakes over and over again, but God cares about other weaknesses very much.\u00a0 Therefore, we must be very careful about the weaknesses which might cause us to lose God’s blessing.\u00a0 We may be unable to eliminate all our weaknesses, but we must ask God to have mercy on us so that we would be those who are able to receive His blessing.\u00a0 We should say to the Lord, “This vessel is weak, but forbid that it should be too shallow or too small to contain Your blessing.”\u00a0 Even though we are shallow and small, we are still able to contain His blessing.\u00a0 God’s blessing and gifts are His work.\u00a0 Thus, we hope God would have mercy on us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Expecting The Lord’s Blessing by Watchman Nee Part 1 of 2 Of late a thought has been constantly with me that all the work is dependent on God’s blessing.\u00a0 Often we are faithful, but despite our faithfulness there is no blessing and no fruit.\u00a0 Often we are diligent, but despite our diligence there is no … Continue reading Thursday Treasures – Watchman Nee<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thursdaytreasures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twolisteners.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}